Ignored
by mathmaddy
Summary: What will happen when Natsu starts to ignore Lucy after he makes S-class? After that doesn't work, he kicks Lucy off the team and no one knows why except for Gray, and he's not telling. Not even Lucy herself knows his true motives. So after being kicked off, she's forced to go solo, solo and headed for depression. (This is not a Lucy leaves)
1. A Silent Night

**I, obviously, do not own Fairy Tail. There's a 1/7 billion chance that I would.**

Lucy was laying in her bed going over the events of that day. She still couldn't believe that Natsu had made S class. It had been a year since the last trial, well, rather seven. She also couldn't believe that he had chosen Happy over her again. Even though seven years had actually passed, it only felt like a couple months since she had done it with Cana. Her and Cana managed to hold their own in the fight. Lucy shifted in her bed. I mean, it wasn't like she was as powerful as Erza, but at least she had as much power as Happy. It's not like Happy could fight either. Plus she was smarter, so she could end up being ten times as useful as Happy. I mean, last time Gray and Loke ended up following them because they knew Lucy was smart and could figure out the riddle. I mean Natsu chose a cat over her!

Lucy shifted again, this time it was followed by a huff. Wait, why was she even upset? Did she really even want to do the S-class challenge again? Not really, in fact, she would be fine if she never had to do it again, but it still hurt that Natsu didn't chose her over his stupid, flying, powerless, good-for-nothing cat whose only real talent was flying unless you counted being annoying, rude, heartless, obnoxious and….

Lucy realized she was doing it again. Lucy pulled her blankets up tighter and listened to the bugs outside. Bugs could be pretty annoying. She got up to shut the window. Wait a minute, she could hear the , Lucy Heartfilia, could hear the bugs. Was she in someone else's house? To do that meant that it had to be quiet. And if it was quiet that meant Natsu was either sleeping or not currently in her house. Lucy was in her bed. Natsu wasn't. Which confirmed the fact that, for once, Natsu wasn't invading her privacy. Was he okay? Maybe doing the S-class quest had tired him out more than she thought. Wait, why was she worrying? She had peace. Lucy closed her eyes.

It was nice to have some peace when you were trying to sleep. Nice, calm quiet. Yes, that was exactly how she wanted it. Just quiet. No noise what-so-ever. This time Lucy turned onto her side. She closed her eyes. It was too quiet. She shifted again. She still couldn't sleep. She decided to get up. Maybe a drink would help. Lucy got up and walked into her kitchen. She had only just gotten into her kitchen when she saw a note that Natsu had left her.

_Sorry Luce, I know you're always telling me not to touch your glass cups because I'll break them. Tou even got plastic ones so I could use them, but nobody ever lets me use glass cups, so I wanted to try. Everyone's always teasing me about how I can't use them, and earlier today, Gray offered me a baby bottle. I decided that he went too far, so I tried using a glass cup. You know, that way I can prove to Gray that I can use them and he won't insult me anymore, oh and Gajeel was in on it too. Man I should beat them up after this. Anyway, you were right. I shouldn't use glass cups. They are fragile, and broken fo break easily. I just wanted to let you know, it's all their fault that your cup gotr making fun of me. Don't be mad, -Natsu_

Lucy sighed. That was just like Natsu, breaking her stuff and blaming it on others. Lucy grabbed one of the plastic cups and filled it with water. If Natsu wasn't going to use them, she might as well use them. She didn't spend 150 jewel for nothing. After she had gotten a drink she climbed back into her bed.

Once again though, it was too quiet for her to sleep. Lucy looked at her clock. It wasn't too late, it was only eleven. The people down by the guild were probably still partying. She could probably go down there and join in on the fun, at least a little. Lucy went over and got on her shoes and coat and headed out. As she had suspected the guild was in full party mode after the day's events. In fact, by the time she walked in, they were in the middle of a heated battle.

She had only just walked in the door and finished saying hello to Levy before she felt something hard and cold hit her. It was only a few seconds before she realized that her whole lower body had been frozen. She was just about to ask Gray to unfreeze her when Natsu decided to melt it with his breath. She would remember to hit Natsu for that one as soon as his battle was over suddenly she felt little iron pellets hitting her from Gajeels direction. Didn't they understand her want to not get hurt. She was just about to gather up her friends to help her stop the battle when Erza's sword and Gray's Ice cannon combo aimed for Natsu hit her and she was knocked out cold.


	2. The Last Straw

**I, obviously, do not own Fairy Tail. There's a 1/7 billion chance that I would.**

Lucy woke up with Levy leaned over her. For a second, Lucy had forgotten the previous nights events and had wondered how the mage had even gotten in. Lucy wiped her eyes. Based on how bright it was, it was probably about noon. Levy was helping Lucy to recall the previous night's events after she had been knocked out. Lucy only half paid attention because she could hear them fighting again in the background, excluding Erza, of course, who still felt terrible about the previous nights events. There was only one problem, Lucy had been out for two days.

Lucy decided to change her position this time in the hopes that she wouldn't get caught up in the battle. Lucy decided that she had better cheer up Erza, after all, she never started the fights like a few idiots she knew, she just got dragged into it. As Lucy sat in the seat, she thought about the best way to bring up the topic. She couldn't just outright say it, or Erza would probably get up and leave. Luckily for her, Erza brought up the subject.

"I'm so sorry, Lucy. It's all my fault that you got hurt, you can hit me if you want…" That's a typical Erza for you, always apologizing quickly and meaningfully unlike Natsu. "No it's fine Erza, you don't start the fights, you only join to keep people safe from their stray magic, so its not your fault. You don't need to worry, I'm barely hurt at all." Lucy was very confident in her reply. In fact, Erza's face brightened just at that. "In the future, it might be safer to take the battle outside to some empty field though." Erza nodded as if she was taking notes. Just then one of Gajeels iron poles he was fighting with just slipped passed her. Lucy had had it.

Her eyes got smaller as she stalked over to the five boys who had created ruckus all morning. Among them only Natsu and Gray recognised Lucy's face; her face of true anger. Of course, Natsu was the only one to shrink back as Gray was only shaking. "What's the big deal?" Laxus asked, "It's only Lucy she's not that powerful right?""Yeah" said Gajeel, "It's not like she could do anything to harm _us_.""Stop acting like a baby Natsu, did you forget that your S-class now?""Yeah, you should stand up to your enemies Like A Man! because if you don't…" Elfman trailed off as Lucy stepped closer.

"I-I-I'm so sorry L-Lucy" stammered Natsu, "I-I p-promise I w-won't d-do it again…" "Sorry, but it's a little late for that Natsu, I'm afraid if you don't endure this, you'll never learn." Lucy knew Natsu's promises lasted a day, if that. "Why should we be scared of some puny girl mage who's not even good enough to make S-class?" Gajeel taunted. "Oh?" said Lucy, "Would you like me to show you why. Last time you fought I got knocked out for two days. I finally wake up and you're fighting again! Not only that, but I almost got hit! So, the reason is that you will pay for what you've done. I lost two precious days! My rent is due tomorrow you idiots!" By the time Lucy was done with her recounting of events, she was practically shouting at them. "N-now you've made her even m-more m-mad at us." Natsu was almost crying. "So, since you're not scared of me Gajeel, how about I get my revenge on you first. Afterall it was your attack that almost hit me….again." "W-wait, if t-this is all G-G-Gajeels f-fault th-then why do I have to g-get punished?" Natsu whined. "Because you started it," Lucy snapped at him!

At this point Lucy was so mad that it only took one punch for her to knock down Gajeel, and another two to put him down for the count for a while. She continued down the line to Laxus who hid his fear by saying he was stronger than Gajeel. Indeed he was, but he still stood no chance against Lucy. She decided to go easy on Elfman, after all, it wasn't directly his fault he was just involved in the fights. Then came Gray's turn. She had to admit Gray was prepared, however at this point, his ice magic couldn't even reach her. She didn't care how long it took, she would drag them all down to hell. She easily broke apart his ice magic and gave him a thorough beating. None of their beatings however compared to the ones Natsu got.

After all he had a lot to pay punched him once for each thing he had done. "You break into my house,invade my privacy, make a giant mess, break my glass, spill grape juice all over _my_ bed spread, leave, and when I finally come to the guild you've started a fight and I get hurt, you blow me off for your cat, and after all of that, do you even apologize? No!" Lucy ran out of the guild crying, leaving the guys to wonder what the barely conscious Natsu had done to her (to beat her up) and the girls to wonder what Natsu _hadn't_ done. And Natsu to wonder why his beating was worse than everyone else's, why he was still conscious, and why Lucy was crying. And for some reason, the fact that Lucy was crying hurt more than the pain from getting beat up. And he didn't even know why.


	3. Awkward

**I, obviously, do not own Fairy Tail. There's a 1/7 billion chance that I would.**

Natsu stared blankly at the ceiling. The rest of the guild was quiet. Everybody stood in awe of either Lucy, who managed to beat up all four dragon-slayers and Elf-man, or in awe of Natsu, who had somehow, inexplicably, managed to send the blond mage away, crying. The silence lasted forever, turning from natural, to awkward as everyone had realised the silence, and didn't want to , the silence ended when Happy came back from his fishing trip and offered the fish he caught to Charla(I don't really know how to spell her name). They knew that he was an idiot, but this was a whole different level, not only had he not noticed the silence, but the five boy mages who were completely beat up still lying on the floor. Everyone in the room sweat-dropped.

After Charla had told him she didn't want his fish he wanted Lucy. "Lushee!" he yelled, "What do I do?" It was then that he he had realised Lucy wasn't there. "Where's Lucy?" he said blankly, "I saw her here this morning." Happy decided to ask Natsu, he always knew where Lucy was. "Natsuuu" screamed Happy. The blue cat came across his half-conscious comrade. "Who did this to you Natsu?" mourned the blue haired cat. "It was...L-Lucy" the pink haired mage spluttered before finally giving in to the darkness that lie ahead of him. Happy had totally misread the situation, because next he started to shake Natsu "Don't die!" He screamed while tears ran down his face. Panther-lily walked over to happy before he bluntly said to the poor and confused cat, "He's not dead, he just passed out." The blue cat put down Natsu's pink head and continued his search for Lucy.

He decided to look for Lucy at her apartment, but when he found her, she was crying in her bedroom. "Lushee, what's wrong?" the confused cat asked. Lucy rushed to make up an excuse. "I was just writing a letter to my mom when…" Lucy trailed off. "Oh" the cat replied. "I remembered what I wanted to ask you!" the cat shouted enthusiastically. "Did you forget?" asked the confused mage. "Why?" the cat asked. "Why what?" said Lucy, even more confused. "Why'd you beat up Natsu?" the blue cat asked like it was obvious. "He and his little buddies over there almost knocked me out again, maybe next time they'll fight somewhere abandoned like they should" she replied. "Aye sir" replied the blue cat.

Lucy finally decided to go back to the guild, she needed a job if she was going to pay her rent anyway. When Lucy walked into the guild the first thing she noticed was that the five perpetrators had woken up. The second thing she noticed was that they were avoiding her. "Hey Erza, Hey Gray," the mage called. The two said mages looked up at her. "Well," Gray said, "Natsu wanted to tell you something, you should probably see him first." Lucy walked away. Was it just her, or was everyone being really confusing today. She headed towards Natsu, who was in his usual seat. "So, I heard you needed to talk to me." she said. Natsu sat thinking for a moment before finally exclaiming "oh yeah!"

"Lucy," he said and for once he was serious, "I'm S-class now." "Yeaah, and?" she asked. She wasn't totally understanding his point. "Now the team is doing harder missions and, well, I don't want you to be part of the team anymore." after he said this, he turned around. He knew how much this would hurt Lucy, and if he saw her face he knew he would give in to her. It wasn't until she had walked away and given Mira her first solo mission to get stamped and left that he turned around. "I said it" he told Gray. She's not on the team anymore. "Why?" Erza was confused. "I can't tell you." he said, "You're too close to her and Mira." "oh," said the female mage.


	4. Solo Mission

**Like I have said, I do not own Fairy Tail.**

Lucy huffed as she rode the train to her mission. She still couldn't believe that he had kicked her off the team! She realised that she wasn't that strong but she could still help and she managed to defeat her enemies. Besides just the other day she had beaten him up. Granted he didn't use magic. Lucy stopped as she realized this was her stop. She got off the train and angrily marched to the mansion where she would talk to the requestor.

The job Lucy had taken required her to retrieve a stolen item from a group of three bandits. They had stolen the treasure while it was being delivered on a train. Lucy had a feeling she knew exactly who the bandits were. They were a group of weakling who relied on their power of farts to help them steal. They were incredibly weak, and even a simple mage could defeat them as long as they were smart. Lucy could easily do the job. However it seemed the requester didn't know the actual power of the thieves because he was offering 100,000 for it. Either that or whatever he had was seriously important.

Lucy was half asleep while asking her questions. "where were they last seen?" she asked. Near the river great. "Did they seem to possess any magical powers?" No? Great. It seemed like forever before Lucy had finally finished all of her questions. It was a totally different atmosphere from when she was yelling at Natsu for being too loud. This time it was quiet and strictly professional. Lucy walked out of the mansion and headed to the cliff. After she got there all she had to do was follow the separate pair of tracks to catch the thieves. By the time Lucy had gotten there, it was about two hours past noon. Lucy decided to finish up quickly and get Lunch or whatever you could call it at that point.

Lucy had finally gotten to the end of the new tracks where she met the jiggle butt gang as they called themselves. She had quickly beaten up two of them when the leader made a comment. "I've seen you before! You were with the flame devil and with our air goddess! So, where are they now?" Lucy did not want to talk about this. "They. Kicked. Me. Off. The. Team! Lucy shouted. All of her anger finally blew up and she threw the leader onto his other two minions before taking the item and leaving. At least now she would get all of her pay.

Lucy had forgotten all about the old team as she walked into the guild. She decided that she could do fine by herself, in fact, maybe even more so than with them. After all, she had gotten the rent money she had needed, and had enough to spare. "Hey Mira," she called "Can I get a milkshake?" "Coming right up," cheered the white-haired mage. It was Lucy, her favorite person to tease.


	5. A Hurt Lucy

**You guys should know by now but I don't own Fairy Tail, or any other manga/anime for that matter.**

"So Lucy," the white-haired mage started as she handed her the milkshake, "How's your love life?" "Um, same as always mira, non existent." This time however it was not accompanied by the usual blush. Mira didn't think much of it, she probably found a way to hide it. "Come on," she cooed, "You can tell me." It was then that she realised something was wrong. Lucy's smile turned into a frown and she could tell the mage was not happy. "Fine, Mira. You want to know so bad, I'll tell you." Just then Erza had walked in and interrupted their conversation. "So Lucy, I heard you did you're first solo mission," she said it casually. "So, how'd it go?" "It went well actually." Lucy brightened up at the new topic. "For the first time nothing got damaged" Erza's face told Mira that wasn't the answer she was looking for. "So, you didn't oh I don't know, get hurt or anything?" Erza tried to hide the strain in her voice. "I got a little scrape and now my feet hurt, why?" Erza rushed quickly to think of an excuse. She couldn't find an unrelated one but she couldn't just say why, Natsu told her no one could find out.

(flash back to when Lucy first came in)

Natsu noticed Lucy when she walked into the guild. She looked happy, even though he knew she wasn't. He took a deep breath. Wait, he smelled Lucy's blood. Had she gotten hurt? Was it because he wasn't there? Wait, he couldn't just go over there, he had to ignore her. Otherwise she would hang around him and get hurt. But wait, Lucy _was_ hurt. "Hey Gray," he asked "Will you do me a favor?" "No way flame-brain"said the ice mage. Natsu was too worried about Lucy to care. What about Erza, he thought. "Hey Erza, would you do me a favor?" he asked cautiously. "Sure" replied the scarlet haired mage, "What do you need?" "I need you to make sure Luce isn't hurt. I wasn't there to protect her this time and now I smell her blood." "Sure thing Natsu," the female mage said, "but why can't you see yourself?" "Because he said if I do I'm not ignoring Lucy and she'll get hurt. Oh, he added, make sure no one finds out _I _put you up to the job"

(flashback ends)

"I was just wondering if you had gotten hurt without Natsu there to protect you," lied the mage. Well, only about her wondering. It wasn't that she didn't care about Lucy, it was just that the thought had never occurred to the red-haired mage that Lucy could get hurt when she was by her self. "Ohh," Mira said, suddenly interested "Natsu _protects_ you? I had no idea he cared so much." It was clear to Lucy that Mira thought she had figured out who Lucy liked. Mira knew that Lucy already knew where this was going, but instead of lying, rejecting that, and trying to change the subject, Lucy just got unhappier. "What's wrong Lucy," she asked. "My love life," Lucy sighed. "Wanna have a sleepover?" Now Mira knew something was wrong. Lucy never had sleepovers because Natsu would come into her house. "Sure" said the mage , she knew Lucy needed it.


	6. Sleepovers and Punching Bags

**I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own Fairy Tail. **

Right now, all Lucy wanted to do was be by her friends. So, when she suddenly asked Mira if she wanted to have a sleepover, she went with it. Lucy decided to have Levy over too, after all, she wanted to tell her too. Lucy had also decided to tell them about her "love life" or rather lack there of. After all, maybe if she told them, they could help her. Little did she know, they were secretly planning something.

It came as a surprise to Levy when Lucy asked her if she wanted to have a sleepover. "Sure, but won't Natsu just come in your house and wreck it?" Levy asked. "Oh don't worry," Lucy said "He won't be there. "Oh, did you already talk to him?" Levy felt the weight of her words after Lucy stiffened up. "No, but trust me, he won't be there, I'll tell you more tonight. Levy decided that Mira might know more, after all, Mira knew everything as far as relationships went.

When Levy went up to the mage, she found out that Lucy had asked Mira over too. However, neither of them understood why. Lucy had offered before, only to say that Natsu would break into her house and wreck it, even after telling him not to come that night. However, this time Lucy didn't talk to Natsu, and yet she knew so clearly that he wouldn't come. Something was definitely up. Something bad. This was only confirmed by the fact that Lucy had been on edge about anything concerning Natsu that day. What had Natsu done? They both wondered.

It must have been a few days back they decided. First, she was on edge the whole day of the S-class test. Then, there was the incident where she beat Natsu to a pulp, while screaming things between punches. There was one that Mira had taken interest to, but she couldn't remember, and then there was today where she was clearly on edge. Mira and Levy decided to try and remember what she had said yesterday when she was using Natsu as a punching bag.

Punch one was something about breaking into her house.

Punch two was for invading her privacy.

Punch three was for making a mess

Punch four was for breaking some of her stuff

Punch five was for spilling the stuff he broke all over

Puch six was for leaving it there and not telling her

Punch seven was for starting fights where she got hurt

Punch eight was for what was punch eight for?

Punch eight was for doing something with Happy

And punch nine was for never apologizing until she confronted him.

That was it! Lucy was mad because Natsu had done something with Happy, but what? They decided to get all the girls in on it. It was up to them to make Lucy feel better. Maybe they could come to the sleepover too. Levy was just about to ask Lucy when she remembered something. "Mira, what day is it?" Levy asked. "Umm, June twenty, no June thirtieth?" asked Mira. "Remember last time Lucy had us over? I know it was two years ago but it was on her birthday. Natsu had wrecked it and she hasn't had us over since, but that was two years ago," concluded the mage. " Yeah, and?" asked Mira clearly not getting the point. "Tomorrow's Lucy's birthday." said Levy. Lucy needs to be happy on her birthday, besides, I know how to get everyone over to Lucy's house.


	7. Surprise! Happy Birthday!

Lucy sighed on her way home. Saying that she was in a bad mood would be an understatement. Levy had kept her at the guild about an hour after she had planned on leaving. It wasn't that she had a problem with the guild, it was just that she had wanted to clean up before Levy and Mira got there. I had been over a year since they last came over. She didn't want them to get the same impression as when Natsu came to her house on her birthday. Natsu, huh, she thought. That was the other reason Lucy hadn't wanted to be at the guild recently. She felt like she was in the guild because of Natsu, and now that he was ignoring her, she wondered if she should even be in the guild anymore.

"Be careful miss," called out the same guys that always did. Lucy sighed. Just because she was on the edge didn't mean she would fall. If she had 50 jewel for every time that, she would have enough money to not have to worry about her rent. But as she was standing on the edge of the bridge, Lucy wondered if anyone would even care if she fell off. Or jumped. I mean, Natsu wouldn't care, would he? After all, he was ignoring her. But what about Levy? Or Mira? Would they care? But before she could answer the question she realized that she had missed her stop.

Lucy turned around and headed to her house. This time, she ran. If she wanted to get a chance to clean, she'd need at least an hour after all, Natsu...Lucy stopped after that. Natsu. He was all she could think about these days. I guess she couldn't say the same about him. That he thought about her. Lucy made the final turn onto Strawberry Street. Soon after, she realized the lights in her house were still on. That's strange, thought Lucy, I thought I turned them off. Almost as if on cue, the lights turned themselves off.

Lucy shivered as she thought of the possibilities. Had Natsu decided to stop ignoring her? She doubted it. Besides, how could he get there before she did? He was still at the guild when she saw him last. And even if he ran, she would've seen him. Plus he didn't go to bed that early, it was still only about four-thirty. Then it must be a ghost, Lucy confirmed her worst fears. She hoped it was a friendly ghost. Maybe it would help her with her love life too. Lucy laughed at herself.

As Lucy walked up to the door, she heard the ghost mumbling. It definitely wasn't Natsu or Happy though, because the mumbling was higher pitched and most likely female. Then, the house shooshed the ghost. Lucy wondered if her whole house was haunted. That would explain the cheap rent, she thought. Lucy's hand shook as she placed it out in front of her and turned the knob. She stuck her head in the door to look for anything abnormal. So far she didn't see anything. She walked in slowly. She reached out to turn on the lights.

As soon as she turned on the lights, all of the female mages from Fairy Tail jumped out from behind her furniture and shouted, "Surprise!" "What!?" was all Lucy could say. "It's your birthday tomorrow, right Lucy?" Levy asked. Lucy counted the days. Levy was right, it was tomorrow. "I completely forgot. This was probably the best surprise Birthday party ever," Lucy said. "We thought that it would be fun since you never get to have people over and you were so confident that Natsu wouldn't come and," Levy stopped talking. After she had mentioned Natsu, Lucy had gotten tense. So Natsu was the source of all of her stress lately, but why?

"Lucy, are you okay?" asked the small mage, "you got upset ever since I mentioned Natsu, don't worry, this won't be like a couple of years ago," she added. "It's not your fault," explained Lucy, "It's just that Natsu's a touchy subject for me lately." Mira stepped in. "Oh," she asked, suddenly interested. "If you want to hear the story that badly it's fine with me, I was planning on telling you guys, but everyone else will have to listen to it as well," I said, "It's a pretty long story actually."

Everyone else got plates of food and started to sit down. I felt like some kind of mother with thirty kids or something, because they all sat around me for our little Story time. At this point, I didn't even care that all the girls in Fairy Tail would know. Hey, maybe it would stop gossip from going around I thought. Before I began my story, I made them all swear not to tell Natsu. Especially, Erza. Not only was she close to him, but she was whispering about something with him the other day. And after that, my story began.


	8. Why are YOU here?

Lucy began her story. "I had always figured that Natsu and I had a special relationship with each other, but I guess I was wrong. It started right before the S-class exam. We had just completed our last mission that Natsu had picked out. It was our job to defeat a monster that was terrorizing this village next to a volcano. Oh, and Erza wasn't there," she added. "Natsu had almost finished off the monster when it grabbed me and flew off to the volcano. Natsu managed to save me before I was eaten by the thing, but I suppose I had gotten hurt, because he insisted on me having wendy or Porlyusica looking at my cuts. After Wendy healed me, I went back to my house, and Natsu wasn't there, but then I remembered that he was probably training all night for the S-class exam. At the time I didn't think much of it, but the day of the S-class exam he still didn't come.

That was when I decided to go to the guild. I figured he was probably there and that you guys were still partying. And then, I was knocked out. I woke up at the guild. That's when I first realized there was something wrong. Whenever Natsu thinks I might be hurt, he always has to take extreme measures. Like before when I had to be healed by Wendy. After that, he leaves a note and apologizes before he decides to later blame it on someone else. Like this one. It was from before the mission." She passed the note around to everyone so they could see it. There were a few chuckles here and there and soon, all of the girls had finished reading it. Lucy continued.

"And that day there was the incident where I had beaten him, Gajeel, Laxus, Gray, and Elfman up. I'm sure none of you could forget that. But after that day, I didn't even notice that Natsu wasn't here. It's typical for him to stay away from me if he thinks I might be bad. Hence the notes." she explained. "But then the next day, he told me that since he was S-class now, he would be doing harder missions. And then he said that he thought I would be better off doing jobs on my own. And that's why yesterday I did my mission alone. I'm sorry for lying to you guys and saying it was because I needed my rent. I guess some part of me was just hoping that he would change his mind. But over these past few days I've come to realize;"

Suddenly the doorbell rang. Lucy sighed and went to open it. She saw Gajeel and the other members of Fairy Tail there. Lucy looked at him confused for a second. "Why are you guys here? I hope it's not to crash the party again," She said sternly. She would never forget what had happened at her last birthday party she had held. "Well, Na I mean, you're lion guy told us that it was your birthday, and asked me to make sure you were all right because Erza said she was busy tonight. And then I asked Erza what she was doing, and then she said that she was going to your party. After that I told Gray what was happening and he said that we should come over here. And then we told the master and he was all 'is that so, Mira told me something about that' and then he was all 'I remember, she was going to do a surprise birthday!' and we all decided that we should come here to celebrate.

After that we decided to leave and we were wondering where your house was so then we had to go and get Natsu so he could show us the way to your house. And that's why we're here. Plus also, Levy told me that the cake she made was really good." he concluded. Lucy stared at him after his long Narrative. "Fine, you can come in," she conceded, "But you, Natsu, and Gray better use plastic cups, I don't need another broken one. I still get shards stuck in my feet sometimes," I glared at them. I briefly saw Natsu, and he shrunk back. He looked miserable. I wondered what was wrong with him. He had huge bags under his eyes and he looked like he hadn't gotten sleep for a week. Suddenly, she realized she was in a danger zone and was just barely able to evade the stampede of hungry animals coming through her door.


	9. Broken

It had been an hour since the guys had flooded into her apartment, and she was still marveling at how everyone could fit. Not only that, but there was still quite a bit of room for moving. She realized her apartment was big for her rent, but still. She decided she would have to measure it and see if the documents she had been given had a mistake in them or something. She got up to go and walk around some. Maybe doing that would help some.

She had just started to walk around when she first saw Erza. Lucy was about to go over when she noticed she was secretly talking to Natsu wasn't the first time either. This was probably the fifth or sixth time she had seen them whispering in the past couple of days. It seemed weird, Lucy had never really seen them spend that much time together, but she supposed they were on a team and all. Plus maybe she hadn't noticed it because she had always thought that she was the closest to Natsu. She was just imagining that, so maybe she was imagining this whole thing with Natsu and Erza.

Just then, Mira popped up behind her. Lucy had noticed a second before she could use her sneak attack though. She whirled around to face the mage. "Hey, great part, huh. You really outdid yourself this time!" she said, in the most cheerful voice she could manage. Good, thought Lucy. She didn't have enough time to see that I was looking at Natsu. Not that it matters, she thought, she was going to tell her anyway. Interruptions just seemed to find her like she was some kind of magnet or something. "Hey, what's up?" asked the mage quietly.

"Nothing much, what about you? It seems like you've been staring at someone," cooed Mira. "Not really, I'm just tired that's all," she lied. "You know I haven't getting much sleep lately, so I was probably staring off into space." "oh," after she heard that, Mira pouted. She was sure she had almost gotten something on the blond mage. "Het, need a drink?" asked Lucy, "I'm going over there to get some food anyway." "Sure," said Mira. She noticed all the guys around there, maybe she could spy and see who Lucy liked.

Lucy bounce over to the food. She hadn't realized it until recently, but she was getting pretty hungry. She hadn't had anything to eat since her shake back at the guild. She grabbed a paper plate and had gotten the food and some punch for Mira when she noticed Natsu talking to Gajeel and Gray. Who cares, she thought, but then she heard Natsu say her name. What was he talking about? She inched closer.

"Yeah, I've broken all ties with her. She's too weak to go on dangerous missions with me, and she needs to be protected. It would be better if I never knew Lucy, because… Lucy didn't hear the rest. Her eyes filled up with tears and she broke the glass filled with puch she was holding. She slowly turned away and left. She never should have spied on them. What did she think would happen, Natsu would be telling them his feelings for her and that's why he was ignoring her! She felt stupid, pathetic, and weak. Natsu was right, she did need to be protected. Protected from everything, including herself.

Lucy stopped and found herself on the bridge. _Would_ anyone care if she jumped? Would anyone care if she died? Natsu said it would've been better if he never met her, so maybe, if he didn't have to see her again, that would be enough. Lucy's tear dropped into the river, leaving a single ring in the water. Then, a drop of her blood fell in, swirling the water with strings of red. She had made up her decision. She leaned forward over the water, and she jumped. As she was falling, she thought about all of her times with Natsu. Was he really just faking happiness the whole time. Or maybe, he was happy and it was just not her that made him happy. Huh, that's funny she thought, I think I hear footsteps. But before she could see who's they were, she was plunged into the freezing river.

(Back at the Guild)

"Yeah, I've broken all ties with her. She's too weak to go on dangerous missions with me, and she needs to be protected. It would be better if I never knew Lucy, because then I wouldn't worry about her so much. Now, if she even has a scrape I go ballistic. I would do anything to keep her safe, and I decided the safest place for her to be is with her other friends. That way, she can do easier missions and she won't get hurt as much. I mean, last time, I thought I had lost her for good, and I never want to go through that again." finished Natsu.

Suddenly, he smelled Lucy's blood. He turned around, about five feet away, there was a broken glass. It was Lucy's alright, but it wasn't dropped, or she wouldn't have gotten cut. She must have broken it in her hands though, and Lucy never did that. Something was wrong, he could tell. He searched for Lucy around the house, but couldn't find her anywhere. That's when he notice the blood on the handle. Lucy was in trouble, he could tell. He ran out the door following her scent. It led him to the bridge right by Lucy's house. He saw her figure on the edge. He started to sprint down the road, but it was too late. His heart twisted in despair as he saw her figure disappear under the dark twisted waves and sink.


	10. Looking past the Blurred Lines

Natsu wasn't even thinking when he jumped into the waves after her. He couldn't bear the thought of losing Lucy, she meant everything to him. That was the reason he didn't want her to be friends with him. Natsu dove as deep as he could but he still couldn't see Lucy. He pushed himself further until he caught a glimpse of the mage. He reached his arm farther, but just before he got a hold of her he ran out of breath. He was drowning. Somehow, he didn't seem to mind it, after all, Lucy wasn't ok either. If she had to die he would rather die with her. Suddenly, something started to pull him up.

Natsu blinked his eyes a couple of times. He was on the surface. Standing next to him was a soaked Lisanna. "Natsu!" she exclaimed, "What do you think you were doing? You could have died!" Natsu knew that, but he didn't care. "If it wasn't for Gray and Gajeel telling me that you ran out planning to do something rash you would have to!" "I know," croaked Natsu, "but what about Lucy?" After he said that, the members there looked down with solemn faces.

Natsu looked around. "Where's Lucy?!" he asked, panicked. "Look, Natsu, I couldn't save her, she was too deep." The look on Natsu's face explained it all. He was going insane. Like right now. The guild members stepped away, afraid of what his rash actions might be. Natsu saw his chance and bolted to the edge of the water. He jumped in and forced himself down with a drive. He had to save Lucy. She should still be ok, right? I mean, it hadn't been that long since he was pulled up. She couldn't die now, she couldn't. As much as she got put in dangerous situations, he just couldn't see her dying, I mean, she had managed up to this point, right.

(Back to Lucy)

Lucy felt her lungs start to burn and her eyes sting as the frozen water danced in and out of her. Her vision started to blur and she thought she had caught a glimpse of Natsu once, but the image drifted away. Perhaps this was an illusion, she thought. She had always thought drowning would be a more rough way to die, but somehow, when it was intentional, it was almost graceful. Like she was just floating on a cloud or something. The longer she was there, the less she could see, and the darker it became. Suddenly, each little movement became a strained effort, and she could tell she was nearing the end. I guess the thing about people thrashing is a myth, she thought, because your movements are so strained you can barely move at all. And then, her vision blacked out, and she just felt herself hit the bottom of the river.

When she woke up, her vision was blurred. She was wet and cold, she felt herself shiver. "Are you cold?" asked the Natsus. "Yes," she croaked out. "Here, I'll warm you up then." This Natsu, or rather Natsus, were different. Somehow, they all acted like her dream Natsu. Maybe this was a dream. "Hey, Natsu, when did you multiply?" asked Lucy. This would tell her if it was a dream or not. "Luce, are you ok?" they asked, in unison. "of course, why?"her head hurt, like some kind of awful migraine was implanted into her skull, but other than that, she was fine. She felt Natsu pick her up and hold her like a baby as he carried her away from wherever they were. She never got to find out their destination though, because she blacked out before he made his way there.


	11. An Ominous Job: A quest for her Friends

**Sorry about the long wait guys. I've been pretty busy lately with school starting and after school activities. Ughh, Springboard sucks. We've recently had to write a short story in English and I'm like 'Yes! I can do this," but they gave us a bunch of guidelines and by the time I finally decided on a story, I had like one week left to do it, and before that was just me being unmotivated/busy. I was having trouble making this chapter flow into this next part and keeping it long enough and all that. No new news, I still don't own Fairy Tail. Oh, and if you guys want, I'll post my story on my page, still have to type the last part though. Anyway, just tell me if you want me to in the comments. And I'm so sorry to all of you who were stuck waiting. I feel awful. Oh, I almost forgot, I'm starting a new part with this chapter where it's going t obe like a long story arc so each will start with the same part and then continue with a subchapter. Enjoy? Mathmaddy (who is no longer good at math)**

When lucy finally woke up, she realized that she was in a bright, white room. The hospital. That was strange, she thought, I don't remember coming here. Suddenly, she thought back to what she had thought was a dream about the dream Natsu's. He must have taken her here right?Wait, did that mean he had acted like the Natsu's in her dreams? Wait, did that mean that he wasn't ignoring her anymore? She looked around the room. She saw many of her guild-mates, but Natsu wasn't there. She wished she had his superior sense of smell, because then she could tell if he'd been there since when he'd brought her. Not that he'd been there in the first place, she reminded herself.

"H-How did I get here?" asked Lucy, testing her theory as to why she was there.

"Oh, uhhh," Erza looked torn. "Someone found you in the river and called the guild since you have that mark on your hand," she said simply Many of the other guildmates, mainly girls, looked up at her questioningly. She just gave them a look and they went back to what they were doing.

Lucy caught on and had a feeling that she was lying but was her explanation really any more believable. I mean, according to her, multiple Natsu's' carried her to the hospital, not to mention the gentle, kind ones that only appeared in dreams, she thought, upset. "Thanks for waiting you guys," Lucy said genuinely, but determined to figure out if it was a lie. "So, how come someone else was at the river?" she asked curious, and pushing the subject.

"Maybe first you should tell us why you were in the river," Mira stated coolly, covering for Erza. Lucy tried to shy away from that topic, but when Mira kept pestering her she finally gave up. "Well, you know, I was at the party, and then I decided it was kind of, you know, loud there, so I uh, decided to take a walk on the bridge. You know, the one by my house and uh, well, I can't exactly remember the rest," she lied. She knew very well that she jumped off that bridge. And she was about ready to kill the person who had saved her. Why couldn't they just let her be? Let her out of this miserable, dream Natsuless world.

For a time, it seemed like Natsu was acting more and more like the ones in her dreams, but now, she didn't know what to think. After all, it seemed like he had grown cold and heartless towards her. He did kick her off the team for being weak after all. She had always thought they were friends, and perhaps even more than that, but now, she didn't know what to think.

Later that day, Lucy was released from the hospital. She sat in her room wondering what she should do. Man, it was so quiet without Natsu around, she thought. She got up and started to make lunch, but was surprised when she didn't find all of her food gone and her fridge stuffed with fishbones. She pushed the thought away and got out some food. Without even realizing it, she noticed she had made the food really spicy. It burned her tongue, and she just left it there. Things were so different now that Natsu wasn't by her side, and she felt lonely, so she decided to go to the guild.

When she was at the guild, Lucy ordered a milkshake and sat at the bar. She looked around the guild and noticed that her usual team wasn't there, so when Levy entered, she called her over.

"Hey Levy!" She smiled, even though that wasn't what she felt like doing. The last thing she wanted right now was for her best friend to worry about her. "So, I was thinking of going on a mission later, and, well, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me?" Lucy asked the mage. She needed to quickly find a different team, being solo just didn't feel right to her.

"Sorry, but later I was going to go on a job with Gajeel and Lily," the blue haired mage apologized.

"It's fine, I wouldn't want to keep you two love birds apart," Lucy teased, forgetting herself briefly.

"No, you've got it all wrong! We're just friends."

"That's what all lovers say at first." At the mention of lovers Mira came out.

"Who loves who?" she asked, trying to catch up on the conversation.

"Levy and Gajeel, they're just so adorable together." Lucy added a tiny squeal at the end, fangirling her favorite couple.

"No, I said that I don't love him!" Levy shouted, a little too loudly. Gajeel must've finally heard over the ruckus of the guild, because he came over.

"Oi, who does the shrimp love?" he asked trying to act nonchalant but failing miserably.

"Not telling," Lucy said stubbornly, she wouldn't just sell out the fact that Levy loved Gajeel, especially not to Gajeel. That was something Levy needed to tell him, if she ever decided to.

"Come on, this is important," he whispered harshly.

"If you want to know so bad, you should figure it out yourself." she chimed before turning her back, leaving an angry Gajeel to stalk back to his corner.

Lucy went up to the request board shortly after, going to choose a job she could do on her own since Levy wasn't coming. She spotted an excellent job she could do with the old team, but…No, she was so tired of not having a team holding her back. She grabbed the quest anyway, knowing fully well that she would need someone more powerful like Natsu to help her, even after all of her intense training a year ago. Who needed Natsu anyway she thought. She headed off towards the mission, she would prove him wrong. She would prove Natsu he was wrong.

A Crappy Inn (Natsu's Location)

Natsu looked up from the crappy inn he was staying at. They had just finished the job and were staying there for the night, planning to return to the guild the next day. Well, he and Happy were. Gray had already left, taking the train, something Natsu refused to do, especially since lately his sickness had gotten worse.

He had a slight feeling that something was wrong, although he didn't know what. He couldn't stop thinking about Lucy. That was one of the reasons he had rushed this job so much. He was worried that she would get in trouble again without him there. He had left Erza there to protect her but still, what if she tried to kill herself again? What if he got back and he figured out she died? What if this was all his fault? He wasn't able to sleep the rest of the night with the questions floating around in his otherwise thoughtless mind.


	12. Memories of Natsu

Lucy quickly arrived at the opposite train station near the forest where her mission was located. She had almost forgotten what it was like to not have a dragon slayer about to puke on you, or walking to the destination. That last one especially was a pain, although if it was for Natsu, she would do anything. She always assumed they had felt the same way but...yeah. She tried not to think of it much, something she was constantly failing at.

She quickly regained focus and looked at the request one more time before heading off towards the village. Apparently, something mysterious had been going on in the forest and a bunch of people around it and in the village had been losing their memory. The perpetrators must have been powerful since the military was overcome, but Lucy didn't really in the day she and Natsu could defeat opponents the military couldn't. That's when it tabbed her through the 's when it hit her.

It might even be better if she was able to lose her memory, because then, she wouldn't care about Na, him, that much. She could just continue her life, like she was trying to do now. Trying but failing, she thought miserably. She shook her head, clearing her mind before heading through the villiage gate. She couldn't lose her memory, not yet at least, because she had to finish the job for the village.

She ventured into the deep forest, hoping that whatever was taking people's memories wasn't too far in, because it was getting dark quickly. That and she had a feeling that she would get lost. As she trudged further and further into the forest, her fears were proven true, and her feet felt like heavy blocks of lead weighing her down to the Earth. She found a secluded cave nearby and decided to rest there for the night despite the countless bugs she could imagine hiding between the crevices.

Lucy was cold. She hadn't brought a blanket because she was used to the fast paced completion of her old team, expecting to just have to sleep at an inn before heading home the next day. Instead, she was now stuck lying on the hard, rocky surface of the ground. If Natsu were there, he would lie right next to her, heating her up with his fire, and let her rest her head on his shoulder, but he wasn't there. He was gone. Not forever, but gone nonetheless.

The next morning came all too soon, and Lucy sighed as she was woken up, torn from her makeshift bed by some creature. It looked like a mix between a drone and… well, something not human. It's skin was a grayish green and it looked kind of sickly.

By the look of the nonexistent sun, it wasn't even six in the morning yet, and her day was already horrible she thought. Not only did all of her muscles ache from sleeping on the uneven surface, but she was pulled out of bed and scratched be the weird things teeth and claws.

She tried to fight it off, but just as she was about to finish it off, about five more came crawling out of the shadows. One of them looked a little different, newer, or more powerful perhaps, and it shot something into her side. Her vision started to blur and the last thing she saw was her being carried away. It was kind of like deja vu, except this time, instead of a bunch of dream Natsu's carrying her, it was a bunch of horrid beast half carrying, half dragging her deeper still into the woods.

When she woke up, this time in a large empty room, she saw a man hovering over her. He looked pretty sinister, and Lucy could tell she wasn't exactly in the best position. Her hands were chained to the wall, and her magic had been drained. It caused her body to feel weak, and she wished that Natsu was there beside her with his goofy grin telling her everything would be okay.

But not everything was okay, not now. Natsu wasn't beside her to help protect her. He was far away, on an S-class mission, not caring at all what happened to her. He thought she was weak, so he decided to do harder missions without her. He decided he didn't want to take out weak enemies like the one in front of her. Except the one in front of her was powerful, she could tell that much.

He wasn't supposed to be this powerful, she thought. Not there were any memories of his power, but still. If they thought it was dangerous, they would have marked it higher, right? he was even more unconvinced when she searched and found his steady release of magic pouring out of him, something she had learned to do while training. Something was wrong, something was definitely wrong. This guy, he was just as powerful, no more powerful than Natsu himself, so how could she defeat him.

Now she really wished Natsu was there beside her. There to protect her and there to give her hope, telling her magic power didn't matter if he couldn't fight as well as him. There with the rest of the team. Even if he was there alone with her, she would have been happy, but he wasn't. He left her to face this one on her own, but she couldn't. He was right, she wasn't strong. She wasn't powerful, and she wasn't Natsu level. No matter how much she liked to think her quick mind made up for her lack of power, she was wrong, and Natsu was right. She couldn't keep up with him, she couldn't do an S-class mission with him.

Lucy shook away the tears that she knew were starting to form. No, she had to stay away from Natsu. She couldn't always rely on him to protect her. That was why he hadn't wanted her on the team. He left for a reason, and if he thought that it was best that they didn't hang out anymore, than that was his decision, and she had to respect that. He obviously didn't want to see her, so it would be better if she didn't see him either.

She put on the bravest face she could manage and faced the trouble that lie ahead of her. She was a Fairy Tail mage, and that meant she could take care of herself. She was glad that she didn't quit, even if she went to throw her life away, that was the last thing she had. She glanced at her right hand, her her mark one last time. It symbolized her guild, her home, her family and it symbolized Fairy Tail.


	13. Author's Note 1

**Hey guys, this is mathmaddy, and I'm thee author of this fanfiction as well as one other. I have a couple things to tell you and a couple of thing to ask you, okay? And if I'm inspired, I might add a little extra something for you guys at the end. **

**1) I wanted to notify everybody that I updated chapters 11 and 12 since they were a bit short, added some more details, a bit of new info, etc. You won't be really confused if you don't read it but you continue reading, but I suggest those of you who have read it, before seeing this page, read it again. If you read it after the update, September 25, 2014 at 6:05 pm, then it doesn't affect you.**

**2) I want you guys to vote on the outcome of the story, kind of. I'll give you two options and I want you to comment on it. Option one is that Lucy loses her memory and goes back to Fairy Tail. Natsu feels like it's his fault, so he takes her a bunch of places, trying to help her get it back.**

**Option two, Lucy runs out of the woods, and into the village and manages to contact FT, but she's captured. Natsu freaks out and rushes to where she is and manages to get there before she loses her memory. He fights the enemy, but just before he takes him into the village/has him arrested, he wipes Natsu's memory and Lucy brings him back to the guild, unaware. When she figures out he lost his memories, she feels guilty and feels like it's her fault for taking on the mission/feels like that's why Natsu ignored her. I WILL PRETTY MUCH COMBINE THIS FANFIC WITH MY OTHER ONE SINCE IT"S NOT THAT POPULAR ON ITS OWN IF NOT I CAN ONLY HOPE THAT IT WILL GET MORE POPULAR.**

**3) So, my friend wanted me to write a Jerza fanfic, and I have no idea what I want the basic storyline to be, like the setting, how long it should be, and other stuff like that. All I know is that I want it to have a bunch of cute fluff that makes the reader feel embarrassed with the characters even though it's just something like talking to each other or going in each other's rooms. I want it to have something to do with Jellal's complex about him being evil while Erza is good/his whole he walks in the darkness so he cant be with her. I want it to involve elements from their past together(kind of connects to the previous element.) And Finally, I want it to be in the present or very early future (such as after the current arc) so their powers aren't any different, they're not older, etc. Please also comment these ideas or you can PM me, I don't care. I appreciate all ideas and will most likely do elements from each one. Also, If I get a lot of requests for oneshots, I might do a Jerza oneshot 'book'.**

**Okay, so I'm not entirely motivated, but I feel bad for rambling on, so I'll do this for you anyway. Aren't I a caring author. Plus, if I don't do it now, I'll have to wait another ten chapters or so and I've always wanted to do one of these.**

**Me (right now I'm Mira): "Natsu, how come you kicked Lucy off the team?"**

**Natsu: "I don't want her to get hurt, ever, I couldn't bear it, so going on dangerous mission with me, she always gets hurt. I can't do it anymore."**

**Me: "Awww! That's adorable! You love her so much, you would hurt Lucy to keep her safe."**

**Natsu: "What!? Lucy's hurt!? I didn't mean to, I was just trying to get her to hate me and stay away from me!"**

**Me: "Think about how Lucy must feel, she feels really weak, especially after she heard you talking to Gray and Gajeel."**

**Gajeel: "Oi, you talkin' 'bout me?"**

**Me: "Oh no, just about who Levy has a crush on." I lie.**

**Gajeel rushes in the room.**

**Gajeel: "Who is it?! I swear if you don't tell me I'll kill all of you AND that bastard!"**

**Me: "Ooh, does someone like the tiny Levy-chan?"**

**Natsu: Laughs histerically.**

**Gajeel: "Shut up!"**

**Me: "At least you do missions with her." Glares at Natsu.**

**Gajeel: "He he he, suure," he trails off.**

**Me: Glares "What did you do?! I swear if you..." I trail off.**

**Gajeel: It's not like that okay! I was just thinking 'bout it after what the salamander said 'kay? Jeez"**

**Me: "Okay, I'll accept that since things actually happen between you two, unlike Jerza and Gruvia. I mean at least Jerza tries, but Gruvia, I blame Gray."**

**Gray: "Hey, how's it 'spossed to be my fault?!"**

**Me: "You're the one who rejects Juvia! Do you know how hard she tries?!"**

**Gray: "She's just so...clingy."**

**Me: "Because she likes you and you haven't told her anything about it, all you do is ignore her." Glare seven harder.**

**Gray: "Natsu's ignoring Lucy!"**

**Me: "I know that! I'll give him one more chance since he has a reason."**

**Natsu" "Ha Ice princess, my couple is better than yours!"**

**Me: "Shut up! Neither of yours is good right now! You should be ashamed."**

**All three guys: "But what about you and Laxus, you haven't gotten that far yourself, right?"**

**Me: Blushes. "W-who says we're a couple? Besides that's beside the point."**

**Them: "Oh really?"**

**Me: "Shut up or I'll call all of them over here and tell them you like them!"**

**Silence.**

**Lucy: "You guys?! I haven't been able to find you anywhere!"**

**Natsu: "Gotta go guys, and for the record, I wasn't here."**

**Natsu leaves.**

**Lucy comes in.**

**Me: "Oh, hey Lucy, Levy, we're just talking about who likes who."**

**The atmosphere gets tense and Gajeel walks out, not bothering anymore.**

**Me: "Well that was weird."**

**Levy and Lucy nod their heads.**

**Me: "I guess that's the end of that for now, you guys wanna go shopping?"**


	14. Save Me

As the man stepped closer to Lucy, she could almost smell his breath. "Well, what do we have here," he'd chided, "A little fairy without her friends. Looks like they all left you."

"H-how do you know that?" She rasped, pushing the words out of her dry throat.

"I can see all your memories, and I can take all of them away, but I don't think I'll do that just yet, I think I want to have a little fun first. I might add a few, or alter some, I still have no idea, but that's just only the beginning, I can see through all the moments you have hidden away. To me you are like an open book," He called everything out in glee, and his words made Lucy shudder where she stood.

He closed his eyes and Lucy could feel him probe around in her conscious. She blocked it as best shee could, although she knew what she could protect was very little, especially if she wanted to ba able to block him out. She gatheed all of her memories with Natsu, the one thing she wouldn't let him change, the one thing he couldn't. He could take everything else. But she couldn't bear to protect the one of him telling her she was off the team, and she left him a small strand.

"Oh, you poor thing, you were abandoned by them were you. But don't worry, I won't abandon you, I'll keep you forever. Especially since I haven't collected all your memories yet. Oh and of course I would know, I could feel the barrier you know." He added the last part as a looming threat before letting her off the chains but still keeping her in the room before leaving.

As soon as he left, Lucy looked for a place to escape from, knowing that if she was going to do it, it would have to be in one go. She searched around the room, but nothing immediately caught her eye. She sat back down in the middle of the room waiting for something to happen.

She didn't know how long she'd been sitting there before the guy came back in, but this time he brought a large table-like board with handcuffs on the side,cmagic cancelling, she assumed. He laid the board on the ground before putting her on it and continuing to probe into her mind.

This time, he wormed his way through her shield and selected the memory of when Natsu had saved her from Phantom Lord, rushing all the way their when he'd figured out she'd been taken. The memory replayed in Lucy's memory, but this time, instead of him rushing to save her, he never came, and she was stuck in the jail cell until she found a way out from the sky jail cell. Lucy struggled against the memory that she knew was wrong, but slowly, it began to sink into her memory and became all too familiar. Nobody saved her, so why would they save her know? she wondered.

When the man finally left, she could barely tell which of her memories were real and which of them were fake anymore. She cradled her head in the corner, searching one last time for any place to escape. This time, she found one, a few small pieces of crumbly wall leading up to a boarded window that she hadn't noticed before. She climbed up to the window using the foot hole created by the archaic wall and pried the boards off the window before she fell. She caught herself careful not to make a loud sound and sat down to rest a bit before attempting again since this time she only had to climb out the window.

After she had finally rested, she got up against the wall and used the same foot holes to pry herself up to the window. She had just gotten to the last one and had started lifting herself out when the last foot hole collapsed, leaving her feet dangling. Lucy was determined to pull herself up this time, because if she didn't, she would have to find a different way out. She wiggled her body and pushed off against a few loose or sticking out bricks and finally made it to the top of the window.

Apparently, that wasn't her only trial, because there was a rose bush under the window where she would have jumped making her escape. She thought for a long time about a way she could get around it, but when she found none, she decided to just jump. Just then, she heard the door open to her cell below and what must have been the guy keeping her captive. She heard him shout in anger as he saw her up there, and he started to furiously climb the wall.

Lucy knew she would have to jump now, becaus he was taller than her, so even without the last step he could probably make it up to the window too. And by the looks of it, he was stronger, so he probably wouldn't struggle the way she did. But Lucy also knew that she had to time it right, so she waited until he was just about in reaching distance of where the last foot hole had been when she jumped straight into the rose bush and ran towards the town.

As she was running, she feel the blood dripping down her legs, stinging as it was exposed to the outside air filled with dirt. She pushed on through the forest, not really knowing where she was going or where she needed to head, and her magic was still to weak to be used. She proved her point that she must be lucky, because she quickly came to another small village near the woods. She raced into a small shop and asked the old lady there if she could use her magic crystal ball, hoping the guild would listen to her plea for help despite the past.

The old woman looked slightly confused, but agreed. Lucy had finally gotten an answer from the guild, seeing Mira's face before the man from before appeared behind her. He quickly overpowered Lucy and brought her to the ground and dragged her away. "Save…..me….." was all that Lucy managed to croak out before she was dragged away, and she hoped that the guild would be able to hear her.


	15. The Way Things Used to Be

**A/N: Sorry for not updating for a while. Things have been kind of hectic at home and in my free time I was having a hard time finding inspiration to write. It didn't help that I had this great idea for a regular story, so I kind of had to push past that. Also, I started several new manga. Including, Until Death do us Part, Pandora Heart, Millennium Snow, Ranma 1/2, Naruto, and the graphic novel for Sword Art Online. As well as various fanfiction. So, sorry. I apologize. I tried to make a long-ish chapter. :) Might be another one today as an apology. Depends on how my other one goes.**

Back at the Guild

Mira screamed as she saw Lucy get dragged away by the mysterious man. The entire guild went into a massive panic, not even allowing her enough quiet to think. The master came out quickly as he head the ruckus, wanting nothing more than to silence it. As soon as he appeared, the guild quieted, looking up at him expectantly. He summoned Mira over to explain everything, and as soon as he heard the news, his face turned grim.

He ordered Levy and a few others to research the incident and similar ones, as well as possible suspects and their abilities, as well as assertaining any other inportant imformation. He knew that if any of them would be able to figure out her location and her current situation, it was her. He also gathered searching parties, assigning them to certain areas and nearby villages. THe groups came together, discussed strategies and gave a time to meet back at the guild. They had just about finished up when Natsu walked in, soaked from the rain pouring endlessly outside.

"What's going on guys? Is something wrong?" He asked everything curiously, scanning the room for anything missing. He immediately noticed that Lucy wasn't present, although it had to be some kind of coincidence, right? She probably just went on a job, he had heard that she planned to do one. His worries grew worse as he noticed their faces darken and as they huddled up together.

"Shit, what do we tell him?"asked Gray, hurriedly. "I mean, you know, he and Lucy were…" He trailed off, leaving the rest to be implied as the young fire mage turned to look at him.

"What?"asked Mira surprised, "I thought that he cut ties with her and it was only a temporary thing and that was why…" she also trailed off, not wanting to repeat the words, once more, of the fate of Lucy.

"No, you see because of, you know, he cut the ties to protect her. There were, a few incidents, in our last mission."

"Oh," Mira said, finding the situation suddenly making sense. "So that was why we had to cover up for him. And I thought it was important" she said sternly, clearly irritated that her previously favorite couple had broke apart over something like this.

The master looked at Natsu cautiously before speaking. "I'm afraid there had been an accident while on a mission. We no longer have any connection, or idea what has happened to," he paused for a second, swallowing. "To Lucy Heartfilia." As he said the last part, Natsu felt like his whole world had been shifted, no, broken, shattered into a million pieces, into a mess that he could never put back together again. This wasn't like last time, where she was right there, he had no idea where she was. He slowly stumbled out of the guild and wandered aimlessly, barely noticing as he stumbled right in front of her apartment.

He looked up at it sullenly, wondering if it would ever be inhabited again. He climbed the brick wall, just like he used to, but was shocked as the vines he once relied on for support had withered away, the remains unstable. As he forced his way through the window, he noticed that her house looked was disorderly, as if she hadn't touched anything since he'd last left. Then he remembered she'd just gotten released from the hospital.

He lightly brushed his fingers against the closet where he used to stand and mock Lucy, and where he used to always tell her to wear his favorite red ribbon, but she always wore the pink one, and know he knew why. The color of his hair. All this time, he had meant just as much to her as she did to him, but he let her go. He hadn't been there to protect her, all this time. He was too worried about what he wanted. He wondered if she even wanted him there right now. After all, she probably hated him.

He continued to look around the room, searching for any clues even though he knew it would be pointless. He searched everywhere, her cabinets, everything. Finally, he made his way to the one place he didn't want to be. Their, no her, bed. He gently picked up the pillowcase,as if it might shatter, and held it against him. He wished things could just be the way they used to be. He laid down on his side of the bed and snuggled close to her pillow, pretending it was Lucy. He barely noticed as he slowly drifted off to sleep, not quite as well as it had been before, but still sleep all the same.


	16. Punishment

**A/N Sorry for the really late update guys. I tried to make it extra long for you to make it up to you guys. Also, at least I didn't end it in a cliff hanger like I was about to and did for this chapter. Anyway, I was really unmotivated to write for a while there since I hadn't written in a while and I was having a little bit of trouble getting into the right mood, you know? Anyway, in addition, my stupid computer/laptop decided to be mean, so there past couple of days when I would have written, it wouldn't open the internet, it would just get stuck in the middle. And it wasn't a WIFI problem because the internet on my i-pod was working, but, oh well. Anyway, you guys will want to read this chapter. **

Lucy's Apartment

When Natsu woke up, he expected Lucy to be by his side before he remembered the previous night's events. He checked the clock be side him and saw that it was about noon, so most of the members would be at the guild by now. He hoped that nobody noticed him coming late, especially Gajeel or Wendy since they'd be able to tell that he'd been at Lucy's house from her scent wrapped around his clothes. He stepped into the guild quite antsy though, hoping that they'd come up with a plan of action by now. He practically jumped to the center of the conversation between the Master, Mira, Erza, Gray, Levy and Gajeel, and a few others of course.

"So, what's the plan?" He asked.

"Plan? Natsu, I'm afraid that even if we knew where Lucy was, we wouldn't be able to act so brashly."

"Haven't you guys been trying to locate her?" Natsu raised his voice.

"Yes, Natsu, but just because we have a general idea of where she is doesn't mean we can just barge in. Things like this take precision. If we just search the forest they'll know we're there.

"Then we can split into small groups and search the forest."

"It's too dangerous to split up. If we're battling who I think we are, then the person who captured Lucy is extremely powerful. We'll all need to team up.

"What if he leaves with Lucy?! What do we do then?! What if something happens to her?!"

"Natsu calm down, we're still working on it, but Lucy will have to take care of herself until we can help her." The master attempted to calm Natsu down.

"I THOUGHT YOU GUYS CARED ABOUT LUCY! DON'T YOU?" Natsu screamed, as loud as he could before exiting the guild and slamming the door. If they wouldn't search for Lucy then he would have to do it himself. After all, the master had given him some of the villages she might be in. He ran all the way to his house, shoving random clothes and items into his bag before heading out to the mysterious northern village.

Lucy's POV

Lucy leaned against the wall uncomfortably. She was tired, but when her body sank, the chains put around her wrist cut into her skin. She struggled against the shackles when she could, not really caring if it scarred her anymore, but most of the time she barely had the energy to move. By her calculations, she had been there about two days without any magical power or food, not to mention the endless sessions of mind alterations she went through, fighting them the entire time, blocking her precious memories and struggling not to let any of them change.

She heard the same, familiar footsteps against the cold brick floor, as well as the scratching noise that accompanied it. Great, she thought, this was all she needed right now. She gathered up all the energy she could and stuck herself to the floor as much as she could. She was determined to fight him the entire time she was here. As he stepped into the room, she noticed he was carrying something different. It was long and skinny, and there were many different colored sticks piercing through it. First, he leaned towards her, struggling to pull her away from the corner she had wedged herself into. He struggled for about twenty minutes or so before her energy finally gave out and he managed to drag h across the room and strap her onto the board.

Once she was strapped onto the board, he got a sinister look on his face, and she could tell that she was in for some trouble. Not only did she not have her magic now, but she was hungry and pretty much out of energy. If this was his plan to break her all along, he was sure one hell of a genius, that was for sure. Ever since she had tried to escape, he'd been especially harsh and rough with his movements around her, not even bothering to be delicate with his touch. That's how she could first tell something was different, something was wrong.

He started by gently picking up my hair that draped over the board towards the floor. It had grown longer since I stopped maintaining it. I had always kept it the same since Natsu loved it like that and he would always compliment me, but after what happened I didn't care anymore. It had been about half a month since that day, so now, my hair almost grazd the floor. He wove it around his hands and brought it up to his nose before smelling it, no, that was what Natu did, this was different, it was more like he was inhaling it. He sighed after smelling it, gntly caressing my cheek, giving me a playful kiss.

Something burned inside of me, anger. The same thing I'd seen give Natsu so much power. The same thing I'd seen turn good, ordinary people into villains. I wondered what it would do to me, until I realized that the magic that I normally had, that felt so familiar, was back. My anger surged and I attacked him with as much force as I could, using the magic directly, one of the new powers I had obtained from my training. I knocked him back, but it wasn't enough to stop him permanently, or even momentarily. Unfortunately, just as quickly as my power had come back, it disappeared.

He stood back up, a new, evil smirk on his face. His smile was deeper than before, more natural, and suddenly I realized I had done the one thing I didn't want to do. He came towards me, still acting gently, like he was before, but pushing me further and further, enjoying having finally broken me as I laid helplessly on the board. He repeated the movements from before, this time completing his little ritual by kissing me on the lips, pushing deeper and deeper into my mouth until I felt like I could barely breathe. He let up, allowing me to gasp for air for a second before he took out the memory changing helmet and attached it to me, giving me a smirk, knowing that, for once, all of my memories would be his for the taking.


End file.
